Pregnant woman who shot and killed boyfriend in botched YouTube stunt will go to jail: Report

The woman who accidentally killed her boyfriend in a YouTube stunt gone horribly wrong has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter charges and is expected to serve jail time.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Monalisa Perez shot and killed her boyfriend Pedro Ruiz in June as the two were recording a video for their popular YouTube channel. Ruiz had reportedly convinced Perez to fire a gun at him while he was holding a thick book against his torso, believing the book would stop the bullet.

Perez had previously tested the stunt by shooting a bullet into a book, and that time, the bullet did not go through, he told his girlfriend.

But when Perez and Ruiz recorded the stunt in the yard of their Minnesota home, with their 3-year-old daughter nearby, the bullet pierced 22-year-old Ruiz, killing him.

Perez reportedly called 911 immediately and explained the situation. She was pregnant with the couple’s second child at the time, and has since given birth.

The Star-Tribune reports that Perez pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in connection to Ruiz’s death. According to the terms of the plea deal, the young mother will be required to serve 180 days in jail, though she is expected to serve that time in annual 30-day increments for six years. She will be on supervised probation for five years, is prohibited from owning a firearm, and cannot “make any financial compensation” from the video recording of Ruiz’s death.

Perez will be sentenced in February.

If Perez had gone to trial, she risked a 10-year-sentence that would require six years in custody and four years in supervised release. The newspaper reports that a sentence that long would have been unlikely.

Prosecutors reportedly obtained multiple videos of the tragedy, which remain with investigators.